On cold, dreary rainy/snowy/icy winter days, I almost always crave chocolate. That sort of weather and mood makes me want the richest, most decadent dark chocolate. But then there are those other winter days where I end up dreaming about summertime, or wanting something a little bit lighter to pair with the rare PNW sunny day. Craving a fruit and real food heavy dessert, I made some vegan raspberry lemon bars. With these around, my chocolate cravings have disappeared.
I have been wanting lemon bars for quite a while now. They’re the perfect balance of tartness and sweetness and usually don’t require too many ingredients. Lemon bars are a delicious light dessert (unless you eat the whole pan, which is always tempting!). Wanting to try something a little bit different, I opted to pair the lemon with raspberries. It may not be berry season right now, but believe me, a few berries can really brighten up these cold and dark days!
After coming across Heart of a Baker‘s vegan lemon bar recipe, I became so exited to try a vegan version. The best part of her recipe was that it used a banana instead of eggs/tofu/cashews in the filling! Absolutely genius, and you can’t even taste it in the final result. These vegan raspberry lemon bars came out absolutely beautifully. They are a tiny bit gooey (best stored in the pan if you don’t devour them all at once), but an absolute success. The shortbread crust is divine and it only three ingredients. The combination of the raspberry and lemon brings me back to warm and sunny days while satisfying my sweet tooth. The crust is sweet, the filling is tart, and the texture is spot on. This recipe is a complete winner and I can’t wait enjoy the rest of these vegan raspberry lemon bars.
Vegan Raspberry Lemon Bars
Ingredients
Shortbread Crust
- 1 Cup Flour
- 1/3 Cup Coconut oil, melted
- 1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
Lemon Filling
- Zest of 4 lemons
- Juice of 3 lemons
- 3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Ripe banana
- 1 tsp. Vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp. Cornstarch
- 2 Tbsp. Flour
Raspberry filling
- 1 1/2 Cups Fresh raspberries
- 1 tsp. Lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp. Flour
- 1 tsp. Granulated Sugar
Instructions
- Grease an 8x8 pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a small bowl, combine crust ingredients until well blended. Press the dough evenly into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 10 minutes.
- In a large bowl mix together the lemon juice, lemon zest, banana, granulated sugar, vanilla, cornstarch and flour. Be sure the banana is well mashed and the mixture is smooth.
- In a small bowl, combine the raspberries, additional lemon juice, flour and granulated sugar. Using a fork, mash the ingredients together.
- Pour lemon filling mixture on top of the prebaked crust. Carefully spoon the raspberry mixture into the middle of the lemmon filling and spread evenly. Place pan in oven and bake for 40 minutes, or until the center is set.
- Remove form oven and let cool at room temperature for 20 minutes. Let cool in refrigerator for at least 1.5 hours. Once cool, cut into squares and sprinkle powdered sugar over the bars.